Dolly Parton Awarded A Hefty $100 Million Check By Jeff Bezos To Distribute To Her Favorite Charities

Billionaire, Jeff Bezos, awarded country music icon, Dolly Parton, $100 million over the weekend for her preferred charities. Besides her popular hit music, the beloved country is known for her philanthropic acts and sizable donations to charities over the years.

Parton previously made a $1 million donation to aid the research of a COVID-19 vaccine in 2020 and opened a foundation aimed at helping children achieve literacy. The foundation houses a book gifting program that distributes free high-quality titles to children in the US and beyond.

Bezos, worth almost $124 billion, has taken up a more philanthropic role along with his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, since leaving his active role at Amazon. He previously donated $10 billion to Earth Fund to aid climate change. Bezos also recently gave $200 million to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Read on to learn more about the massive cash award.

This weekend, Parton was given the Bezos Award for Courage & Civility by Bezos and his partner, Sanchez. The award came with a check of $100 million "to direct to the charities that (recipients) see fit." According to Sanchez, the prize recognizes "leaders who aim high, find solutions, and who always do it with civility."

While announcing the winner, the Amazon founder said, "The woman you're about to meet embodies these ideals so thoroughly. She gives with her heart – what she's done for kids, literacy, and so many other things is just incredible."

After the announcement, the country artist climbed onto the stage and hugged Bezos before exclaiming about the amount of money the award came with. "Wow!" Parton started. "Did you say $100m? When people are in a position to help, they should help."

https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/1591558804960854017?s=20&t=sl8Vy5WGOpkjqzuuhXVfGg

Further, in her acceptance speech, Parton revealed that she always strived to do good with her wealth, and this would be no different. "I've always said I try to put my money where my heart is, and I think you do the same thing. I'm going to do my best to do good things with this money, thank you, Jeff," the country singer said.

Bezos and Sanchez posted about the new awardee on their respective social media pages. "We've just announced a new Courage and Civility award recipient — @DollyParton, who leads with her heart and will put this $100 million award to great use helping so many people. She joins prior awardees @VanJones68 and @Chefjoseandres.

Congrats, Dolly!" the businessman's Twitter post read.

Parton quoted the post with a similar comment to her acceptance speech and once again promised to do her best with the awarded sum. "I try to put my money where my heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money," the artist wrote. “Thank you @JeffBezos #LaurenSanchez”

Parton is a known humanitarian and philanthropist. In 2020, the country artist backed the Moderna Covid vaccine by donating $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support the organization's coronavirus research.

The "9 to 5" singer also founded the Dollywood Foundation in 1988 to help and inspire children in her county to strive for educational success. The foundation also includes the Imagination Library. This is a program that gives high-quality books for free to over a million children around the world every month.

In 2021, Parton notably made use of her royalties from Whitney Houston's version of her "I Will Always Love You" song to buy a Nashville strip mall in support of the local black community. The singer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame recently, although she said her lack of a rock album deprived her of the right.

Before Parton, Chef Jose Andres was the winner of the Bezos Award for Courage & Civility. He was given the award due to his World Central Kitchen, which was founded in 2010. The not-for-profit, non-governmental organization is aimed at providing meals for people all over the world in the wake of natural disasters. Chef Andres donated his $100 million to aid in feeding the war-torn Ukrainians.

The previous year saw Van Jones, the Dreams.org co-founder, receive the award. The purpose of the platform is to address "mass incarceration, climate change, and poverty by advocating for new legislation, creating green jobs, and teaching low-income children how to code."

In March, Jones revealed that he had around a decade to distribute the $100 million. Bezos's Courage & Civility award is just one of the several philanthropic acts the billionaire has been involved in since stepping down as CEO of Amazon.